Two new IBM open-source-only mainframes introduced

American tech giant IBM today introduced two mainframe servers, both running only on the open-source Linux operating system.

According to a report by Bloomberg, the new hardware will facilitate the use of technology such as MongoDB database and the open-source software Spark.

Spark is a free information-storing framework that IBM has said it is spending “hundreds of millions” to develop. The framework was announced back in June and follows the hiring of about 20 people for a new technology centre in San Francisco.

The mainframe is one of IBM’s signature hardware products that will help sell related software and services, according to Bloomberg.

Presently more than a third of IBM’s mainframe clients are running the Linux operating system, Tom Rosamilia, senior vice president of IBM Systems, said in a release.

Mainframe code will be released to the public, IBM said, adding it will join a new cohort of less than a dozen academic, government and corporate entities in what’s called the Open Mainframe Project.

The idea is that those companies participating in this project can work together, and begin building a set of open source tools and technologies for Linux mainframes, while helping one another overcome common development issues in the same manner as all open source projects, TechCrunch explains.

“The Open Mainframe Project gives these customers, vendors and service providers one place to come together,” Ross Mauri, general manager for IBM Systems explained.

IBM is sweetening the pot by contributing 250,000 lines of mainframe code to the Linux community.